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jueves, 26 de noviembre de 2015

One of the most powerful and creative methods of raising awareness about taboo subjects like Violence Against Women (VAW) is through music and song. From medieval bards to protest folk singers of the 1960s to today’s Pop, Rock and Country songwriters, musicians, singers and songwriters continue to play a vital role in spreading the message about social issues via heartfelt lyrics and musical hooks that ensure that the song stays with the listener until the message sinks in. 1-A Broken Wing – Martina McBride

American Country superstar Martina McBride is a staunch supporter of the cause to end VAW and her songs often reflect her commitment to empowering women. A Broken Wing is no exception.

This song by India Arie calls on women and girls everywhere to accept and be happy in their own skins and to appreciate themselves for who they are inside and out!

https://youtu.be/Mq86e4Fhja0

4-You Gotta Be – Des’ree

British singer Des’ree had a hit in the late 90s with this feel-good song about being the best that you can be as a woman.

3https://youtu.be/pO40TcKa_5U

5-The Rose – AHMIR

AHMIR – the 1R&B band on YouTube and The Pixel Project’s YouTube Music Ambassador – recorded Amanda McBroom’s The Rose in April 2012 as part of The Pixel Project’s Music For Pixels campaign. The Rose is their message of love and healing to survivors everywhere

Prevention is the 2015 theme of the International Day for the Elimination of violence against women on 25 November and of the UNiTE to End Violence against Women Campaign’s 16 days call for action. You can see more at:www.unwomen.org. The United Nations Secretary-General’s Campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women invites you to "Orange the world: end violence against women and girls". We have sixteen days (since November 25th till December 10th) to collaborate by using the toolkit and sharing our photos, messages and videos showing how we can orange our world atfacebook.com using #orangetheworld.

I would also like to tell you about www.plan-uk.org, a webpage with plenty of resources that you can use to raise students' awareness of the need to fight for a world in which girls and women can live safe from violence, go to school without fear, marry who they want and have their voices heard.

As I focus my councelling in school contexts and as most of my readers work in school contexts too, I have chosen a resource that fosters reflection on how violence against girls can take place in or around schools. You can find it here.

The following video can serve as a starting point:

https://youtu.be/OOSRtbvT6kk

My humble contribution to this campaign of prevention outlined above can very well include a song because I cannot agree more with Hans Christian Andersen when he said that "where words fail, music speaks". On this occasion, my choice is "Try", by American singer Colbie Caillat. I consider this is an empowering song because I believe that the best prevention starts by making young girls understand that they do not have to be someone else in order to make others happy.

martes, 24 de noviembre de 2015

The human voice consists of sound made by a human
being using the vocal chords for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming,
etc. Generally speaking, the voice can be subdivided into four parts; the
breathing, the vocal chords, the articulators and the resonators.

The lungs must produce enough airflow to vibrate vocal
chords (air is the fuel of the voice). The vocal chords are the vibrators that
produce the fine pitch and tone. The articulators (tongue, palate, cheek, lips,
etc.) articulate and filter the sound. Finally, the resonators amplify and
intensify the sound: the end result of resonation is, or should be, to make a
better sound.

The vocal chords, together with the articulators and
the resonators, are capable of producing a lot of sounds. The tone of voice may
be modulated to suggest emotions such as anger, surprise, or happiness. Singers
use the human voice as an instrument for creating music.

2. Vocal resonation, vocal registration and vocal ranges

Vocal resonation is the process by which the timbre
and/or intensity of the sound is enhanced by the use of the air-filled cavities
in the body. There are seven areas that may be listed as possible vocal
resonators. These areas are the chest, the trachea, the larynx (voice box), the
pharynx, the oral cavity, the nasal cavity and the sinuses.

Vocal registration refers to the system of vocal
registers/range within the human voice. A register/range in the human voice is
a particular series of tones that possess the same quality.

Vocal Ranges:

A
typical choral arrangement divides women into higher and lower voices and men
into higher or lower voices too. The four main vocal ranges are:

-Soprano – A high female (or young boy’s) voice.

-Alto – A low female (or young boy’s) voice

-Tenor – A high (adult) male voice

-Bass – A low (adult) male voice

There are
some ranges between
the main ones:

-Mezzo-soprano
– In between soprano and alto

-Contralto – Contralto and alto originally referred to the same voice. But some people today use “contralto” to refer to a female voice that is even lower than a typical alto.

-Countertenor – A
male voice that is unusually high, light, and agile, even for a tenor.

-Baritone – A male voice that falls in between tenor and bass.

Voices are as individual as faces; some altos will
have a smaller or bigger range, or the softest and strongest part of their
range might be in a different place than other altos. These
are approximate, average ranges for each voice category:

TENOR

Male voices

BARITONE

BASS

VOICES

SOPRANO

Female
voices

MEZZO SOPRANO

ALTO

3. Choral music

A choir, chorale, or chorus is a musical ensemble of
singers. Choral Music, therefore, is the music written specifically for a choir
to perform. Choirs are often led by a conductor or choirmaster and can be
categorized by the voices:

•Mixed
choirs (i.e., with male and female voices). This is perhaps the most common
type, usually consisting of soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices, often
abbreviated as SATB.

•Male choirs, with the same SATB voicing as mixed
choirs, but with boys singing the upper part (often called treble or boy
soprano) and men singing alto (in falsetto), also known as countertenor. This
format is typical of British cathedral choirs.

•Female
choirs, usually consisting of soprano and alto voices, two parts in each.

•Children's
choirs, often two-part SA or three-part SSA, sometimes more voices. This
includes boys’ choirs.